S U F i S M A SELECT ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF 0imtx of lihxutp Sc Stiformation Atitnu 1991-92 BY AHAMED RASHfiEO, P. Rolf No. 91-LSM-07 Enrolmtnt No. W-8861 Under the Supervieion of P»of. Mohammad Sabir Husaio Chairman DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH 1992
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S U F i S M
A SELECT ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF
0imtx of lihxutp Sc Stiformation Atitnu 1991-92
BY
AHAMED RASHfiEO, P. Rolf No. 91-LSM-07
Enrolmtnt No. W-8861
Under the Supervieion of
P»of. Mohammad Sabir Husaio Chairman
DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY
ALIGARH
1992
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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
AIM, SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
ABBREVIATIONS AND LIST OF PERIODICALS DOCUMENTED
LIST OF MONTHS WITH ABBREVIATIONS
PART - I
INTRODUCTION
PART - II
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PART - III
INDICES AND GLOSSARY
AUTHOR INDEX
TITLE INDEX
SUBJECT INDEX
GLOSSARY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I express my deep sense of gratitude to my teacher and supervisor
Prof. Mohammad Sabir Husain, Chairman, Department of Library & Informa
tion science, Aligarh Muslim University, who took a keen interest in and
offered constructive criticism and suggestions till the completion of this
present work.
My grateful thanks are due to my teacher Mr. Al-Muzaffar A.G.
Khan, Reader, Department of Library & Information Science for providing
necessary and fruitful suggestions. I am also indebted to my esteemed
teachers Mr. Hasan Zamarrud, Reader and Mr. Syed Mustafa K.Q. Zaidi,
Reader for their cooperation and guidance in all respect throughout
my stay in the department.
With profound feelings and love and gratitude, I recollect the name
of my cousin brother, Mr. P.M.A. Salam for his encouragement in my
studies.
I have made full use of the Seminar Library of the Institute of
Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University. I am grateful to the Director,
the Librarian and other staff members of the seminar library.
I feel delighted to express my thanks to my class - mates, well-
wishers, staff of my department and typist.
AHAMED RASHEED. P.
AIM, SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
01 Aim and Scope;
The present study displays in the form of annotations aJl the signi
ficant l i terature that is available in the field of "Sufism". Although
the bibliography is selective in nature but exhaustive, and an a t tempt
has been made to cover all important aspects of "Sufism".
1 am confident that the bibliography will be useful to all those
who have some interest in the field of "Sufism". Research Scholars
in the field of "Mysticism" will find it helpful.
The part I deals with origin, development, and history of "Sufism".
The part II, which is the main part of the present study consists of an
annotated list of 298 articles on the subject. There entries are not
comprehensive but are fairely representative on the subject. Part 111,
however, deals with indices and glossary.
02 Methodology:
Before starting this task, a general survey of the li terature and
other available materials in the libraries was" made.
I l l
021 Standard Followed;
The Indian Standard recommendations for bibliographical references
(IS : 2381-1963), Indian standard recommended for Abbreviations for titles
of Periodicals (IS : 18-19^*9) and classified catalogue code (CCC) of Dr.
S.R. Ranganathan have been followed. In certain cases, where the said
standards became unhelpful I have preferred my own judgement.
022 Subject Heading;
Attempt has been made to give co-extensive subject headings as
much as possible and allowed by Natural language if more than one entry
comes under the same subject heading, these are arranged alphabetically
by the author(s) name.
023 Arrangement;
The entries in this Bibliography are arranged strictly grouped broad
and different subject headings by logical order and arranged alphabetically
among the subject headings.
The entry element of the author is in capitals, followed by the
secondary element in parenthesis using capital and small let ters and then
the title of the article, subtitle (if any), then name of the periodical
in abbreviated form being underlined followed by the volume number,
issue number, the year, giving by using inclusive notation of the pages
IV
of the articles. Then each entry is followed by an indicative abstract
of the art icle.
Entries of periodical articles are arranged as follows:
a) Serial number
b) Name of the author/authors
c) A full stop (.)
d) Title of the article including sub-title and alternative tit les if any.
e) A full stop (.)
f) Title of the periodical being underlined
g) A full stop (.)
h) Volume number
i) A comma (,)
j) Issue number
k) Semi colon (;)
1) Year
m) A comma (,)
n) Month
o) Semi colon (;)
p) Inclusive pages of the article
q) A full stop (.)
0231 Sample ent T
SMITH (Margaret). Rabia the my stic Musi Wld. 20, ^; 1930, Oct
337 - i^3.
02311 Explanation;
This art icle is taken from the periodical "Muslim World", which is entitled as "Rabia the mystic", written by Margaret Smith, in 20th volume of the year 1930, on the pages from 337 to i^3, against this entury, the number has been given.
02* Abstract:
The entries in the bibliography contain abstracts giving the essential
information about the articles documented I have given indicative abstracts
as well as informative abstracts . After searching the l i terature, entries
were recorded on 7" X 5" cards.
025 Indices and Glossary:
The part three of the bibliography contains Author, Title and Subject
Indexes in alphabetical sequence. Each index guides to the specific entry
or entries in the bibliography. The subject Index has been prepared by
following the concept of relative indexing.
The part three also contains a glossary of terms other than English
and abundant in Sufi l i terature which is arranged in alphabetically and
helpful to understand the subject.
VI
ABBREVIATIONS AND LIST OF PERIODICALS DOCUMENTED
Abbreviation
Alig 3 Isl Thou
Alig J Orient Stud
Al Ilam
All Univ Stud
Al Tawhid
Bui Chris Inst Isl Stud
Bui Inst Isl Stud
Bui Sch Orient Afri Stud
Bui Sch Orient Stud
Hamd Isl
Hum Isl
Indo-Ir
Iqbak
Iqbal Rev
Iran
Name
Aligarh Journal of Islamic Thought
Aligarh Journal of Oriental Studies
Al Ilam
Allahabad University Studies
Al Tawhid
Bulletin of Christian Institute of Islamic Studies
Bulletin of the Institute of Islamic Studies
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies
Hamdard Islamicus
Humaniora Islamica
Indo-Iranica
Iqbal
Iqbal Review
Iran
Place of Publication Frequency
Aligarh
Aligarh
Durban
Allahabad
Tehran
Hyderabad
Aligarh
London
London
Karachi
Paris
Calcutta
Pakistan
Pakistan
London
Quarterly
Annual
Annual
Quarterly
Irregular
Tri-Annual
Tti-Annual
Quarterly
Annual
Quarterly
Quarterly
Annual
Annual
Isl Mod Age
Isl Cul
Isl Lit
Isl Q
Isl Rev
Isl Rev Arab
Isl Stud
J Asiat Soc
1 Aff
Pak
3 Pak Hist Soc
3 Res Soc Pak
Musi WW
Notes Isl
Stud Isl
Univ Stud
Wld Musi Leag Mag
Islam and the Modern Age
Islamic Culture
Islamic Literature
Islamic Quarterly
Islamic Review
Islamic Review and Arab Affairs
Islamic Studies
Journal of Asiatic Society of Pakistan
Journal of Pakistan Historical Society
Journal of Research Society of Pakistaan
Muslim World
Notes on Islam
Studies in Islam
University Studies
World Muslim League Magazine
New Delhi
Hyderabad
Lahore
London
London
London
Islamabad
Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan
New York
New Delhi
Mecca
Quarterly
Quarterly
Monthly
Monthly
Monthly
Monthly
Quarterly
Thrice a year
Quarterly
Quarterly
Quarterly
Quarterly
Quarterly
Quarterly
Monthly
LIST OF MONTHS WITH ABBREVIATIONS
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jly Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
January February March April May June July August September October November December
One of the tcuely crea t ive manifes tat ions of r e l i g i o u s
l i f e i n Islam i s the myst ical t r a d i t i o n , knovni as sufism.
With i t s s t ern en^hasis on law and orthodoxy, Islam
hardly seems to present a f e r t i l e s o i l for i n t e n s i v e personal
experience of the love of God. Yet Islam assumes the e n t i r e
s o c i a l system* shariah (the way) i n t o a p r i v i l e g e d conmercial
re la t ionwi th God. Moreover, the Quran s t a t e s that , next to the
ordinary b e l i e v e r s t4io serve their creator according to the
precepts of the law, there are some to vftiom God coimminicates
h i s e s s e n t i a l mystery inwardly in p lace of the soul and
fr iendship with God (Quran 17s27). Here the prophet al lows
for the p o s s i b i l i t y was soon actual ixed and eventual ly
-Plowered in to unparal le led mystical beauty. Even the unique
autitiority of the Quran has in an i n d i r e c t way contributed to
Is lam's mystical wealth, for p r e c i s e l y because i t remaims the
supreme norm of i t s in terpre ta t ion , pious readers, may f ind
in i t v^atever meaning d iv ine ly insp ired i n s i g h t ( i s t i n b e a t )
pr iva te l y r e v e a l s t o them. Only when personal in t erpre ta t ion
openly c la shes with es tabl i shed doetrine (monotheism) could
r e l i g i o u s au thor i t i e s interfere .Thus, paradoxical ly , Islam,
the "re l ig ion of the boek ** allows greater freedom of
in terpre ta t ion than re l i g ions^ that p lace l e s s enqphasis
on the written word . Though early Muslim mysticism stayed
in c l o s e connection with Islamic comntinlty, c o n f l i c t s arose.
Already at the time of Hasan al Bars! (d. 728)« the patriarch
of Islamic Boysticism, sunni' t r a d i t i c m a l i s t s objected to h i s
attempt t o go beyond the l e t t « : of law and doc tr ine . Thus
began the opposit ion between "internal* and "external"
r e l i g i o n that , from the lOtti century on, l ed t o increas ing ly
severe confrontat ions . Nevertheless , a deep personal p i e t y
remained an e s s e n t i a l element of the Islam t h a t s u b s t a n t i a l l y
contributed to rendering i t a world r e l i g i o n .
Most Islaonic mysticism could be characterized as love
mysticism. Many t e x t s show an amazing s i m i l a r i t y in s p i r i t and
even e g r e s s i o n with l a t t e r c h r i s t i a n mysticism. Certain
passages in the poetry of Rabiah al Adawiyah (d. 801) appear
to throw a bridge across the centxiries of Teresa of Avila,
%*iile John of the c r o s s ' s Dark Night echoes some of Shayith
ai Junayd's poems. The s i m i l a r i t y becomes some what i n t e l l i g i b l e
through the e s tab l i shed inf luence of Syrian monasticism upon
the early s u f i s , and the strong muslim inqpact upon Spanish
cul ture as a whole and upon i t s mystics in p a r t i c u l a r . The
res«nblance has o f ten tempted western scholars t o i n t e r p r e t
su f i wri t ings by means of c h r i s t i a n concepts . Yet the
d i f f erence i s substant ia l and appears with increas ing c l a r i t y
in some l a t e r s u f i developments toward monism. Here l o v e no
longer repsesents the h ighes t xinion with God but i s merely a
n i i
way s t a t i o n on the road to a more t o t a l i d e n t i t y . S t i l l , e a r l y
s u f i s adopted models of asce t ic i sm that hadofoser t i e s with
the s p i r i t u a l i t y of the Desect Fathers than with the worldly
luxury of the expanding Muslim e n t i r e . £ven the wool .dress
from t^iich they probably derived the ir name may well have
had a c h r i s t i a n synibolic meaning. At any rate , the pass ive
asce t i c i sm of the early s u f i s stood in sharp contras t with
the outgoing, ac t ive a t t i t u d e of the prophet's early f o l l o w e r s .
Not xintil the 8th century, however, d id the enqphasis s h i f t
from an ascet ic i sm inspired by a fear of Judgement t o a
mysticism of love for which f a s t i n g and poverty served as
means t o a higher end.
The most a t t r a c t i v e f igure in t h i s early love mysticism
the purest mystical love poetry of a l l time, such as her
famous prayer at n ight . "Oh, my Lord, the s t a r s are shining
and the eyes of men are clos€»d, and Xlngs have shut the ir
doors and every lover i s alone with h i s beloved, and here
am I alone with "niee". Here Pure love , even aa the love of
the l a t e r mystics possess ing that qual i ty , r e f u s e s to act
or pray out of s e l f i n t e r e s t , "If I worship Thee from fear
of h e l l , btirn me in h e l l ; and i f I worship Thee in hope of
paradise , exclude me from paradise; but i f I worship Thee
for Thine own sake, then do not withhold from me th ine
eternal l o v e l i n e s s " . Only repntance inspired by sori<jiu for * >
having offendedthe Beloved in %iorthy of the s p i r i t u a l person.
For a l l i t s e r o t i c exuleerance, t h i s and s imilar love
mysticism remained doc tr ina l ly "sober". I t developed
elaborate schemsso of the s tages (roaaaaat) o£ the love of
God. Eventually i t used neoplatonic c a t e g o r i e s , which s treng
thened i t t h e o r e t i c a l l y but may have favoured i t s l a ter
development toward monism.
In Shaykh al-Junayd (d, 910) , s u f i mystical theology
reached f u l l maturity as well as a systematic xxnity. Though
t h i s r e l i g i o u s leader went far in adopting Plotinu^s theory,
h i s orthodoxy was never questioned. Describes aXJunayd as
c l ever , prudent and t imid, conscious of the danger of
heterodoxy which i s pecul iar to mysticism, and as a wise
s p i r i t u a l d irector 1^0 suspends h i s Judgement and defers
the question so long as experience does not seem to him
d e c i s i v e and c r u c i a l . S t i l l h i s theory of emanation from a
preex is tence in God to a separate ex i s t ence in time daringly
re interpreted the creat ion doctr ine . In k i tab al Fyna he
wri tes , "He was the source of the ir ex i s t ence , encompassing
them, c a l l i n g them to witness v^en s t i l l the ir eternal l i f e
was u t t e r l y negated, a s t a t e in which tiiey were from a l l
p r e - e t e r n i t y .
By fol lowing t h i s pr inc ip le of emanation to i t s
u l t imate consequ«ices al-Junayd's d i s c i p l e , a l -Hal laJ, ended
up with the a l l egedly monist theory for vAiich he was executed
T'
in the year 922. With al HallaJ begins a vftiolly new phase in
su£i mysticism that continued t o use the language of love , but
frequently in a more symbolic sense than had the e a r l i e r
sxif is . MeaniKhile i t remains very doubtful vAietiier al HallaJ,
desp i t e h i s strong expressions, ever considered himself f u l l y
i d e n t i c a l with God. His claim of d i v i n i z a t i o n r e f e r s to a
pass ive , t rans ient s t a t e - not t o a permanent s e l f - d e i f i c a t i o n .
Such e c s t a t i c exclamations as "I am thetruth", by no means
unique to him, express a temporary, d iv ine ly granted awareness
of i d e n t i t y with God.He probably remained a love mystic always
longing for a union that was only occas iona l ly attained, as
in the fol lowing of t-quoted v e r s e s : "between roe and Thee
l i n g e r s and ' i t i s I ' that torments me. Ah, of thy, grace,
take t h i s ' I ' from between us". Even t h e supreme expression
of union s t i l l i n d i c a t e s a remnant of d u a l i t y . "l am He v^om
I love , and He^ora I love i s I . Me are two s p i r i t s dwell ing
in one body". Else where al HallaJ firmly upholds God's
transcendence with r e s p e c t to h i s c r e a t i o n .
After al HallaJ, s u f i p ie ty reached a teii^x>rary truce
with orthodox learning in al Ghazali, the g r e a t e s t of the
Islamic theo log ians . A learned teacher of law and doctr ine ,
he abandoned h i s chair to spend 11 years as a wondering s u f i ,
and at the end of h i s l i f e r e t i r e d to a s u f i monastery. By
passing the antinomian trends that emerged after al HallaJ,
G
he returned to a more t rad i t iona l attenpt to enphasize
experience over the l a t t e r of the law. With ibn al Arabi
the dependence on neoplatonism and with i t the movement
toward monism became more pronoiuiced than ever. He provided
the linlc between western c l a s s i c a l cu l ture and Eastern
Islamic mysticism that culminated in J a l a l al din Ruroi.
Sufi mysticism, however, much inc l ined toward monism, never
abandoned the language and imagery of l o v e . Ibn al Arabi with
al Ghazali the moat phi losophica l of a l l muslim myst ics ,
never ceases to in t egra teh i s neoplatonic v i s i o n with the
Quran's d u a l i s t i c doctrine of man's r e l a t i o n to God, S t i l l
one may doubt whether he d id more than adeqpt the terminology
of t r a d i t i o n a l su f i love-mystic ism to h i s own kind of monism.
The absolute for him i s an i n d i s t i n c t one that , overcome by
the d e s i r e t o be known, pro jec t s i t s e l f through c r e a t i v e
imagination i n t o apparent otherness . In t h i s projec t ion , the
r e l a t i o n of the one to the created world, s p e c i f i c a l l y to
man, determines that of the Absolute to the d i f f e r e n t i a t e d
idea of God, the i n t e l l e c t u a l po le as opposed to the cosmic
po l e of f i n i t e being. All that the creature i s , in d iv ine ,
y e t God always exceeds crea t ion . Through man's mediation
the dependent, created %iK>rld returns to i t s primordial
un i ty . As the image of God, man imposes that image upon
the cosmos and r e f l e c t s i t back to i t s o r i g i n a l . In f u l f i l l i n g
the mediating task he approaches the archetype of tiie
of the p e r f e c t Man, the ideal l ink that r e s t o r e s the
broken oneness. Only the Muslim sa in t r e a l i z e s the model
in i t s f u l l n e s s .
All of t h i s appears far removed from Islamic l o v e
love mysticism and even from monotheism. But the same ibn
al Arabi a l so wrote a c o l l e c t i o n of sensual love poetry
t o which he la ter added a myst ical i n t e r p r e t a t i o n . Even
h i s "monist" 'Bezels of wisdom* concludes with a dithy ramb
on s p i r i t u a l i z a d sexual love as providing access to the
p e r f e c t love of God. I t s t a t e s that in woman, man most
p e r f e c t l y conten5>lates God. However, thorough ibn Ai-
Arabi's doctr inal monism may have been, i t never prevented
him from at tr ibut ing to love a primary ro l e in the prac t i ca l
process 6f r eun i f i ca t ion with God. His readers, both i n s i d e
and outs ide Islam, have always enphasized t h i s dualism of
mystical prax i s . This explains h i s i n t a c t both on Spanish
c a t h o l i c and on Persian s u f i myst ics . In the re f ined mysi:ical
poetry that c o n s t i t u t e s the glory of Persian sufism, the
aeme d r i f t toward monism i s frequently expressed in e r o t i c
language. Here the undisputed master i s «Jalal al-Din Rumi.
Persian poets after Rumi expressed a s imilar synthes i s
of monist ic r e a l i t y and e r o t i c longing, non with more force
and evocat ive power than i^d al Rahman viarai (d. 1492).
6
Beware.' Say not, "He i s a l l Beaut i ful , And we His lovers? Thou art but the g l a s s . And He the face confronting i t , %4iich e a s t s . I t s image on tiie rairror. He alone. I s manifest, and thou i s truth art h id . Pure love , l i k e Beauty coming but from Him, Reveals i t s e l f in thee**.
Yet most important for the l a t e r mystical l i f e of
Islam in Iran were the f lour i sh ing Sufi orders of derv i shes .
As they spread, laystical l i f e reached a l l l ayers of the
population, and the search for niystical trance reached
unprecedented proportions. After the 15th century, Persian
mysticism produced no more great wr i t ers . Generally speaking,
the trond of the past three centur ie s in Islam has been
more toward conmxinal p i e ty and law than toward personal
devotion. Yet in our own day we witness a r e v i v a l of sxifi
movements.
11 Deviation and meaning;
The der ivat ion of the name "suf is" was long a
subject of d i spute . Most s u f i s favoiir the theory that i t
i s derived from *safa* (purity) and that the s u f i s i s one
of the e l e c t yitio have become pur i f i ed from a l l %«orldly
def i l ements . OHxeca would connect i t with saff (rank), as
though the suf i were s p i r i t u a l l y in the f i r s t rank in
v i r t u e of h i s communion with God; or with suf fa (bench),
re ferr ing tiie or ig in of sufisra to the *Ahl al su f fa ' (people
of the bench), a t i t l e given to c e r t a i n poor Muslims in the
3
ear ly days of Islam v^o had no house oz lodging and therefore
used to take she l t er on the covered bench outs ide the mosque
b u i l t by the prophet at Madlna. In the opinion of Abu NasE
a l -Sa tra j , the v»ord ' s u f i ' i s derived from suf (wool), for
the ^rioolen ralnment i s the habit of the prophets and the
badge of the s a i n t s and e l e c t , as appears in many t r a d i t i o n s
and narrat ives . Joseph Von Hammer, asserted that the suf i s
are r e l a t e d to the ancient gymnosophists of India and that
the Arabic viords suf i (mystic) and s a f i (pure) belong to the
same r o o t . Noldeke c i t e s a number of passages showing that ,
in the f i r s t two centur ie s of Islam^ garments of coarse vool
were worn by tiie common people and e s p e c i a l l y by those vAio
fol lowed an a s c e t i c way of l i f e . The words laibisa al Suf
(heelad himself in wool), occur frequently in the early
l i t e r a t u r e and s i g n i f y that the person to whom Hie^ are
applied has renounced the world and become an a s c e t i c ; at
a la ter period, when ascet ic i sm passed in to mysticism,
l a b i s a al suf general ly means *he became a s u f i * . In Persian
too the a s c e t i c i s of ten c a l l e d Pashmina pugh (wearing a
woolen garment). Although the circumstances of i t s or ig in
are obscure, i t seems to have gained currency during the
period of t r a n s i t i o n from ascet ic i sm to mysticism about
the end of ttie 2nd century of the Hijrah, and may poss ib ly
mark some s tages in that process . The suf i s o f the 3rd and
4til centur ies , who claimed to be the trxie s p i r i t u a l
M
descendents o£ Muhammad considered themselves f u l l y
J u s t i f i e d In fabr icat ing evidence in support of the ir
a s ser t ion .
12 Origin and early development:
The beginnings of cnystlcism in Islam take us back to
tiie great a sce t i c movement %^lch arose, large ly under
Christ ian inf luence , during the 7th century A.D. This i s
r e f l e c t e d in the biographical works containing n o t i c e s of
eminent suf i s , vhich include tiie names of many of those
early a s c e t i c s . The movement, though extreme in c e r t a i n
d i r e c t i o n s , was mainly orthodox. I t i s character ized by
Intense r e l i g i o u s exa l ta t ion , an over whelming consc iousness
of human f r a i l t y , b o u n d l e s s fear of God, and ut ter submission
to His w i l l . There was no organized monoastlc l i f e , though
some a s c e t i c s wandered to and fro accompanied by a few
fr iends or held prayer meetings in \^ lch they studied the
Quran and discussed the ir spl i t !tual experiences . Basra
seems to have been the centre of an ant i r i t u a l i s t i c party
«^o l a i d s t r e s s on the higher aspects of ascet ie l sm,
regarding i t as e s s e n t i a l l y an Inward f e e l i n g , vAiereas
the Syrians were more concerned with i t s external forms;
Hasan al Basri sa id tha t i t cons i s t ed in humil i ty and was
not a matter of dress and food. Examination of what i s
Involved in Hie f i r s t artdCie of the Muslim creed- ttie
command to asaocial^ nothing with Allah - gradually led
to the view that true asceticism i s incompatible with any
sel£ish desire, even with the desire to undergo the utmost
privations and auster i t ies far the sake of winning paradise,
and that i t must culminate in disinterested love of God.
Thus the old asceticism rooted in fanatical exaggerations
of re l ig ious observances, gave way to a doctrine vhich in
the end threatened to make al l observances unnecessary, tint.
t h i s consequence did not show i t s e l f immediately. The sufis
of the 2nd century were usually orthodox and law abiding.
They cultivated poverty, self abasement, resignation. If they
loved God, they feared Him more and on the v^ole their
mysticism lacked pos i t ive qual i t ies as well d i s t inct ive
theories . They stand mid way between ascetism (zut>d) and
theosophy, or gnosis (ma'avifat). The word that best
describes their attitude i s 'quietism' (rida).
During the 3rd century, sufism enters decis ively
on a new course. The ascetic and quie t i s t i c sp ir i t , though
s t i l l strong i s overpowered by speculative adad pantheistic
tendencies which had hitherto remained in the background
but now assert themselves with increasing boldness. Not
withstanding the dominant and v i t a l part which these tendencies
play in the futujfce development of sufism, i t i s a mistake
to Identify their triump with the origin of sufism. Nor i s
i t l e s s a mistake to describe them as an entirely foreign
element which flowed into sufism from outside and rapidly
transformed i t , so that a l l at once i t became different in
12
kind. The germs o£ s i i f l pantheism are to be to\in6 In the
4)uran (27:88, 55:26, 2:109). Certainly the Muslim myst ics
might halve arrived independently at tiie conclus ion that
Allah i s the only r e a l being.
The main features in the evolut ion of sufism i n the
3rd century may be s e t fortli as f o l l o w s . The older s u f i s had
sought to bring every word, act and thought of tirteir l i v e s
i n t o harmony with the div ine w i l l an idea l «Aiich expressed
their conception of Allah as transcendent personal i ty ,
' the lord created oe ings ' and **iich they at ta ined by means
of a s c e t i c i a n . This theory and prac t i ce natural ly produced
(1) the doctrine of d iv ine love, %*iich i s the h i g h e s t
p o s i t i v e form of quietism, and (2) ecs tasy , vrtiich i s
frequently a r e s u l t , e i ther involuntary or in t en t iona l ,
of a s c e t i c e x e r c i s e s . Although the early s u f i s were more
or l e s s orthodox, the ir r e l a t i o n t o Islam being to the
common c a t h o l i c Qiurth, a r e l i g i o n of l ove and ecs tasy
was bound to come into c o n f l i c t with Islam sooner or l a t e r .
The d e f i n i t i o n of d iv ine \inity (tawhid) became p a n t h e i s t i c ;
the unique personal i ty of An ah far above and beyond human
reach was transformed in to the one r e a l . Being (al-Haaa)
revealed in a l l created things, tiie mystics true se l f , v*iich
he f inds by lo s ing h i s individual consciousness in e c s t a t i c
s e l f abandonment. This doctr ine , however, i t may be d isguised .
^^^
i s the essence of sufism, and t h e h i s t o r i c a l circumstances of
i t s or ig in j u s t i f y the statement tiiat i t was at l e a s t
p a r t i a l l y derived from sources outs ide of Islam, Ihe inf luence
of Chris t ian i ty , neoplationism, and Buddhism i s an undeniable
f a c t . I t was in Mie air and in ev i tab ly made i t s e l f f e l t of
i t s extend and importance we have ample evidence, although
the materia ls a t oxir d isposal seldom enable us to trace i t
out in d e t a i l . In short the new sufism of the 3rd century,
l i k e sufism of every period of i t s h i s tory , i s the product
of d iverse forces working together specu la t ive developments
of the Muhanvnadan monotheistic idea, Qir i s t i an ascetism and
noysticism. Gnosticism, Greek and Indian ph i lo soph ies .
Sufism arose and f lourished as a r e s u l t of several
in f luences . ( l ) A mystic t ing in Muhammad's teachings . (2)
Contact of some of the f a i t h f u l with Gnosticisnii, Neoplatonism
Pseudo-I>i<mysius mystical wri t ings , and perhaps Buddhism,
and (3) The soc ia l upheaval in Arab lands after Muhammad's
death, which drove some Muslims to the inner l l i f e as an
escape from the outer world's hardships. In addition sufism
was part ly a q u i e t i s t i c react ion against the extravaganee
and worldl iness of a few communal leaders.Muhammad's imnediate
s iuces sors , v^o wallowed in luxury and promp.
Among the pr inc ipal teachings of sufism are the
fo l lowing: (1) Absolute Being (God) i s a lso Absolute Beauty.
• *
(2) Since beauty tends toward manifestat ion, absolute Being
developed ttie phenommal world. (3) To win a sense of d i r e c t
communion with the Absolute Being behind the phenomenal world,
one should prac t i ce the q u i e t i s t i c v i r t u e s (poverty, eus t e r l t y ,
humijiity, for t i tude , and d i s c i p l i n e ) , devotee onese l f to the
ways of inwardness (withdrawal, s i l e n c e , s o l i t a r i n e s s , and
s e l f examination) and keep in mind a constant ftvilreness of
God (with f a i t h , awe and d e s i r e ) . (4) I t i s useful to utter
cer ta in s logans (s6h as "Allah i s here") as reminders of the
mystic b e l i e f and aim and as aids to concentrat ion on tiie
quest for u n i f i c a t i o n . (5) If one fo l lows these d i r e c t i o n s
with s u f f i c i e n t perseverence, one w i l l advance through the
standard mystic s tages of concentration, apprehension of the
oneness of every thing, sudden and unpredictable i l luminat ion ,
b l i e s s f u l l ecs tasy , sense of union with the Oiety, sense
of one 's own nothingness, and sense of the nothingness
beyond nothingness .
A matter of v i t a l concern in Ibn Khaldun's l i f e and
time was the r e l i g i o u s and s o c i a l meaning of the r e l a t i o n s h i p
of Islam, In i t s dominent t rad i t iona l manifestat ion as a
sum of fundamentalist theology and law, to thelndividual and
group emotionally of in terna l i zed r e l i g i o n represented by
sufism (tasawwuf) . He i s credi ted with a l ega l responsum
(fatwa) and h i s t o r i c a l descr ipt ion and d i scuss ion of theor ie s
o^ the chapter devoted to sufism in the Muaaddiraah. He supports
If)
t r a d i t i o n a l sufism and r e j e c t s i t s e e s t a t i c , seemingly
antinomian forms, v^i le being f u l l y aware of their great
impact on s o c i e t y .
Ibn Tavraivvah wrote ex tens ive ly against the monistic
( i t t ihadivah) and incarnat ion i s t (hututivah) s u f i s and
condemned as h e r e t i c a l innovations many of tiie s u f i p r a c t i c e s
of h i s day. Nevertheless , Ibn Taymiyah was praised by the
Sufi Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Qawwam, vdio said: "Out sufism
bdcame sound only at the hands of ibn Taymiyyah" implying tiiat
Ibn Taymiyyah was not an outs ider to sufism. Recently discovered
evidence shows that Ibn Taymiyyah belonged to the suf i order
6f the Qadiriyah, named after the Hanbali suf i Abd al wadir
al S i l a n i , t^om he praised and preferred to the other
Hanbali s u f i al-Ansari al Haraur.
J afar al Sadio surfaces in early s u f i t rad i t i on as
a p i l l a r of mystical precedents, earning a spec ia l p lace of
honour over time, e s p e c i a l l y with the Turks, and he f i gures
in the chains of transmission of some suf i orders . Aspects
of h i s theory of the inanimate, as well as . Some ^ e c i f i c
motifs and technica l terms, may have hiK3 an impact on the
formulation of p a r a l l e l s u f i d o c t r i n e s .
Mohammed Iqbal (1877-1938) described the mystic
i n i t i a t e as proceeding through four s tages : b e l i e f in the
unseen, search after the unseen: knodWledge of the unseen
in
gained by looking i n t o the dep*h of one 's own soul , and
r e a l i z a t i o n . Total union with the Unseen he re jec ted as
i n c o n s i s t e n t with monotheism in h i s l a t er years he repudiated
both sufism and the Vedantism which he had previously
espoused.
13 Sufi poetry;
In su f i poetry, thepoet ' s meaning i s myst ica l , however,
sensuous may be the form o in vAiich i t lurks . And of ten the
two kinds are so l i k e each other s u p e r f i c i a l l y that , unless
we have some c lue to the in tent ion of the writer, we can not
e a s i l y decide vdiether we are reading an ode of human love or
a hymn addressed to tiie d i e t y . If i t be asked why the s u f i s
make such large use of e r o t i c and bacchanalian symbolism,
the answer i s that they could f ind no analogy more suggest ive
and bet ter adapted to shadow forth the s t a t e s of enthusiasm
and ecstasy which their poets descr ibe , ihe suf i poet i s
not d i r e c t l y concerned with metaphysics.
God, as the poets conceive Him, i s the e ternal
Beauty which by the n e c e s s i t y of i t s nature d e s i r e s to be
loved, manifests i t s e l f for the sake of love, and i s the
r e a l objec t of a l l l ove . Even, a bridge to leading to
r e a l i t y . The soul being d iv ineness i t s essence, longs for
union with that fran which i t i s separated by the i l l u s i o n
of i n d i v i d u a l i t y , and t h i s longing aspirat ion, vrtiich urges
17
i t to pass away from selfhood, and to r i s e on the wings of
ecs tasy , i s the only means where by i t can retxirn to i t s
or ig ina l home. Love i s the f i n a l cause of c rea t ion . Love i s
the essence of a l l r e l i g i o u s . Ihe same p r i n c i p l e enables
•tiie sxifi poet t o so lve the problems of e v i l and predes t inat ion .
Through love we can discern that e v i l , so far as i t has any
rea l ex i s tence and in r e l a t i o n to God i t has none i s a good
in d i s g u i s e or, at the worst, a necessary condit ion for the
manifestat ion of good. As regards predest inat ion , per fec t
love impl ies i d e n t i t y of w i l l and thus abol i shes the c o n f l i c t
between freedom and n e c e s s i t y .
The l y r i c poetry sufism reaches i t s h ighest mark in
panthe i s t i c hymns describing the s t a t e s of f y i a (negation
of i n d i v i d u a l i t y ) and baaa (affirmation of universal
consc iousness ) , ihe odes of Rumi and ibn al Arafoi and other
su f i poets were composed under tiie inf luence of ecs tasy
and are in f a c t analogous t o what i s known as 'acrtdmatic
writ ing*. Their rhythm and melody, combined with the
symbolic form in which they «ce c lothed, g ive , them a
strange power of communicating to the reader the same
f e e l i n g of rapture by which their con^oser was inspired;
and the e f f e c t i s great ly enhanced when they are chanted
with an accoRqpannent of music, as i s customary among s u f i s
engaged in dhl r while students of t h i s poetry can not ignore
1 c
the conventional r u l e s of in terpre ta t ion v*iich assign* a
£ixed a l l e g o r i c a l meaning to a large number of %4ords that
are commonly used in a d i f f e r e n t sense, such as method may
e a s i l y be pushed too far ibn a l -Arabi ' s commentary on the
Tarluroan al Ashwaa shows that even the author of a mystical
ode i s sometimes unable to explain i t s meaning; Ihe e c s t a t i c
element appears only at i n t e r v a l s and seldom with i t s
f i r s t i n t e n s i t y in narrat ive romances, v*iich d e p i c t the
s o u l ' s love of God and i t s u l t imate union with Him as tine
story of two human lovers - example, Yusuf and Zulaikha,
Lai l a and Majnun, Salaman and Absal - and d i d a c t i c poems
of which the Mathnavi i s the most ce lebrated .
14 Sufi concept of love;
The word j,sha (ardent love) i s derived from ashiaa
Ashiaa i s the creeper c a l l e d l i b l a b in Arabic, and isha-oechan
inPers ian. When t h i s creeper twins i t s e l f around a tree , i t
derprives i t of i t s l eaves and f r u i t s . The t r e e turns ye l low
and a few days la ter d r i e s up con^le te ly . S imi lar ly , vAien
love takes i t s root in the heart of a lover , every one e
other than the bjoved i s effaced in the effulgence of the
be loved ' s beauty; the very being of the lover i s annihi lated
and there remains nothing save the beloved. Some lexicographers
b e l i e v e that titie word i shq has no root , i t i s i t s own root .
m
Ihe word mahabba (af fect ion) i s derived frcsn hubb.
Hubb means a seed which ^ e n sown in the s o i l l i e s eaibedded
in the earth, ra in may f a l l and the sun May shine on i t ; i t
braves the weather, summer and winter a l ike , without any
change. I t sprouts in i t s own good time; la ter i t blossoms
and bears f r u i t s . Sirallatly; \*ien love i s embedded in the
heart i t a lso does not suffer any change by absence or
presence, pain or pleasure, separation or union. All the
same i t goes on developing slowly but surely, and branches,
l eaves and biods shoot out from i t .
Ibn al Arabi observes that in the Quran love has
been interpreted as ' excess ive a f f e c t i o n ' (ashadd-i-huob).
Al-Ghazali has defined "affection" (mahabba) thus: "affect ion
i s an i n c l i n a t i o n towards a thing vAiich affords pleasure;
i f t h i s i n c l i n a t i o n grows strong and g e t s confirmed i t i s
termed 'love'^i"
Love s i g n i f i e s ' excess ive a f f e c t i o n ' , what s tages
has a f fec t ion t o pass t o termination in love? Ihose who
have experienced love have by i n t u i t i o n enumerated ten
s t a g e s . According to their keen and penetrat ing psycJ;iological
ana lys i s , the beginning of love i s c a l l e d muwaf aqa Ccompati-
b i l i t y / ; then comes mail ( i n c l i n a t i o n ) , followed by mu'apsa
( fr iendship) , then Shaqhaf (v io lent a f f e c t i o n ) , then ta im
(enslavement), then walah (bewilderment or s t u p e f i c a t i o n ) ,
and f i n a l l y l ove .
20
By maviafaaa i s meant that one should regard the
enemies of the Beloved (God), namely, the world, satan and
imperious l u s t , as our enemies and chis fr iends as our
friends^Mai^, and muanasa mean to steer c lear of everybody
and busy oneself v*xolly in the quest of the Beloved (God
Alihighty) Hawa demands that the lover should keep the heart
engaged in auster i ty and in s t r i f e (against s in) and make i t
s o f t . Mawadda i s that s t a t e of a f f ec t ion in which the lover
occupies h i s mind wholly with the thought of God in the
s p i r i t of in tense humility and r e s t l e s s yearning-By Khulla
i s meant making a l l the lirtibs of the body f u l l of r e c o l l e c t i o n
of the Beloved and of aught e l s e void.Mahabba means p u r i f i
cat ion from a l l despicable q u a l i t i e s or v i c e s , and adoption
of a l l laadable q u a l i t i e s or v i r t u e s , Shaqhaf connotes the
rendering of h e a r t ' s v # i l through ardeney of des i re and
considering the revea l ing of the mystery of love for God
i n f i d e l i t y , save under the mystery of ecstasy (wajd) ,Bv
Ta4m i s inp l i ed to become a s lave and capt ive of loveand
be at tr ibuted with detachment from worldly encumbrances
( t a i r i d ) and mental d i s t r a c t i o n s ( ta fr id) .M^lah impl ies
placing the mirror of the heart before the beauty of the
beloved and g e t t i n g in tox ica ted by quaffing the wine of
beauty. F ina l ly , love means keeping the tongue engaged in
the commemoration (dh^kr) of the Beloved (God), and the
heart in the thought ( f ikr) of the Beloved, and the soul in
2?
beholding (roushiahida) the beauty of the Beloved and considering
himself non-ex i s tent .
15 SAMA;
I t i s an Arabic term for the music or l i s t e n i n g
p a r t i e s arranged by Muslim mystics in the b e l i e f that music
serves as s p i r i t u a l nourishment (cruti-ruhani) and a t ta ines
o n e ' s heart t o d iv ine coinnunion. The word sama, which
l i t e r a l l y means hearing does not occur i n the uuian but was
used in Ancient Arabic in the sense of s ing ing . Ai i ibn
Uthman al Hujwiri (d. 1087?) thought that through saroa the
l a s t of the v e i l s between man God could be l i f t e d . Abu
Hamid al-Ghazali (d. l l l l ) and others after him be l i eved
that m / s t i c s who devoted most of the ir time to austere
p r a c t i c e s such as peni tences , v i g i l S / and f a s t s needed
l i s t e n i n g p a r t i e s to r e l i e v e theheart ' s boredom, td in fuse
i t with fresh energy and vigor , and above a l l , t o channel,
rather than annihi late , emotion. Cr i t i c i sm of t h i s i n s t i t u t i o n
by orthodox theologians , however, obl iged the myst ics to
lay down elaborate r u l e s and condi t ions for i t s organizat ion .
As a r e s u l t , the l e g a l i t y o f Saroa became cont ingent upon
the f u l f i l l m e n t of foxir condi t ions ; ( l ) the Singer should
not be a youth or a woman but an adult man; (2) the audience
should be continuously in d iv ine contemplation alone; (3) no
ttbsene<^ v e r s e s should be r e c i t e d ; and (4) no musical
instruments should be used.
2::
Al Hujwiri l a i d dovm even more d e t a i l e d r u l e s vjith
regard to Sama: ( l ) i t should be pract i sed seldc«i and only
in response to an inner caring for i t ; {2) the s p i r i t u a l
mentor should be present at the l i s t e n i n g party; (3) no
person unfandliar with the niystic path should be permitted
to jo in the assembly; (4) the singer should be a l i k e
minded person; (5) the audiance should c l eanse i t s heart
of a l l worldly thoughts; (6) the emotions aroused by the
music should not be checked; (7) a beginner should not be
allowed to attend Sama; and (8) wc»nen should not look at
the d e r i i s h e s from house tops .
Shaykh Abu al Najib Abd Qahir Suhrawardi (d. 1167)
the founding s a i n t of the Suhrawardi ca:der, d i s t inguished
three groups v^o l i s t e n to mystical music: ( l ) those \A\o
are with their creator while l i s t e n i n g to songs and v^o
a t ta in the v i s i o n (mush ah ad ah) of God, (2) those % o l i s t e n
t o music with the ir hearts f u l l y absorbed in i t and
achieve the b e n e f i t s of s p i r i t u a l sec lus ion (rauraaabah)
and (3) those vdio l i s t e n with the ir lower s e l f (nafs)
involved in i t and need s p i r i t u a l penitence (rauiahadah)
to achieve their objec t ive , because Sama i s "for one vAiose
heart i s a l i v e and whose nafs in dead", Suhrawardi considered
music a means of i g n i t i n g the f i r e of love in the heart of
myst ic . Like al Hujwiri, he made the l e g a l i t y of Sama
23
he said i s l i k e ra in , i t f e r t i l i z e s the productive land but
has no effect on Darren f i e l d s . He also quoted Mimshadi
Dinawar (d. 911), who was told by the Prophet in a dream
tha t there was nothing objectionable if the Sama meetings
began and ended with the r e c i t a t i o n of the Quran Suhrawardi
considered tiiat in music hear t , soul, and the lower self
(nafs) are a l l involved. I t s effect , however va r i e s from
individual to individual , i t i s s p i r i t u a l notarishment or
medicines, for some and poison for o the r s . The ear ly Islamic
mystic E*iu al Nun al Misri (d. 861) used to say, "Audition
i s a d iv ine influence v*iich s t i r s the hear t t o seek God:
those who l i s t e n to i t s p i r i t u a l l y a t t a in unto < od, and
those »*io l i s t e n to i t sensually (bif-nafs) f a l l i n to
heresy". For perfect s p i r i t u a l enjoyment through Saroa,
the Iranian mystic Ruzabihan (d, 1209) considered three
th ings to be essen t ia l f ine odor, a beaut i fu l face to look
at and a lovely voice. He regarded the beauty of the Singer
as a p re requ i s i t e for s p i r i t u a l happiness.
Saints of the ^h i sh t i , Bektashi, and other sufi
orders constructed Sama Khanahs (music h a l l s ) in t he i r
khanaahs (lodges) for the exclusive pvirpose of holding
l i s t e n i n g p a r t i e s . While l i s t en ing to Music, mystics often
f e l l in to ecstasy and stood up to dance, weep and cry.
Sometimes they gave every thing they possessed, including
2 t
the clotaiing they wore, t o the rau«ician. According to tiie
r u l e s pertaining to such e c s t a t i c condi t ions , i f any v« : se
s t i r r e d up tJxe emotions of a l i s t e n e r , the singer was
e j e c t e d t o continue r e c i t i n g the same couplet u n t i l the
emotional storm had passed. I t was said that Shaykh u i tb -
al-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki (d. 1235) l i s t e n e d to a v e r s e of
Ahmad Jam for several days and f i n a l l y gave up the ghost
while the verse was s t i l l being r e c i t e d .
Mystics have adopted ^special types , of behaviovirs
in Sama* some of them have contro l led the ir emotions in
such a way that except for f l e e t i n g expression on the ir
faces and t ears t r i c k l i n g down the ir checks, there i s no
phys ica l movement. By contrast , however, the s u f i s
belonging to the Maulvi order of J a l a l - a l - d i n Rumi dance
with amazing abandon. In India, d i s c i p l e s of Shaykh Burhan
al-Din Gharib (d. 1337?), who came to be known as Burhanis,
a lso danced in a spec ia l manner.Ibn Battutah, the renowned
world t rave l l er of the 14th century, r e f e r s to the Sama
of the Ri fa i dervishes which had i t s own unique f e a t u r e s .
The Arab J u r i s t and theologian Ibn Taymiyyah (1263-
1328) was a b i t t e r c r i t i c of the I n s t i t u t i o n of Sama, and
under h i s inf luence contemporary and l a t e r generat ions of
r e l i g i o u s scholars severe ly c r i t i c i z e d the p r a c t i c e . The
2r^
fo l lowers of Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahab (1703-1787), founder
of the Wahhabi movement in Arabia, were equally vehement in
the ir opposi t ion to t h i s p r a c t i c e . Ihough sane of the mystic
orders, such as the Qadiriyah and the Naqshbandiyah, did
not take to Saroa, they rare ly joined the ulama in the ir
c r i t i c i s m of i t . Shaykh Baha al Din Naqshband (1317-1389)
i s reported t o have remarked about Saraa: "Neither do I
p r a c t i c e i t nor do I r e fu te i t " . l>iis remainedthe general
a t t i t u d e of those mystics vrtio did not themselves arrange
Sama meetings. However, Shah Wall ^nah i l 703 -1762) , a leading
Naqshbandi sa in t of Delhi , went a s tep further and arranged
Sama in h i s r e l i g i o u s c o l l e g e or madrasah, for the v i s i t of
the famous Chishti sa in t Shah Fakhr al-Din (1714-1785).
The mystics who advocated Sama defended the ir
p o s i t i o n by re ferr ing to the Quranic v e r s e s tJiat a t t r ibute
a sonorous vo ice to the prophet Daud, to the t r a d i t i o n of
the prophet in **iich he i s reported t o have l i s t e n e d t o
the songs of g i r l s on tiie eve of h i s retxirn from a v i c t o r i o u s
campaign, and to the t rad i t ion that prophet d id not allow
people to disturb g i r l s who were s inging on a f e a s t day. In
the 14 th century. Maul ana Fakhr al din ^arradi wrote a
bcochure Usui al Sama (Pr inc ip les of Sama) to r e f u t e the
arguments of the ulama at the court of the Indian ruler
Ghiyaz al din Tughluq.
o n
While there could be no method of t e s t ing the
subjuctive s t a t e of a myst ic ' s mind when l i s t e n i n g t o music,
the other, outward condit ions were s t r i c t l y enforced and
devia t ions s ternly dea l t with, Shaykh Nizam-al-Din Awliya
of Delhi (1233-1325) reprimanded those who used musical
instruments and Hafiz Muhammad Ali of Khayrabad, (d. 1849)
expressed h i s cond«nnation of mysties vAio allowed r e c i t a t i o n
of verses by women.
However, these r e s t r i c t i o n s were not always kept in
mind by the mystics, especia l ly during the l a t e r cen tu r i e s
yUaesa the mystic orders lo s t t he i r cen t ra l i sed s t ruc tu re and
many of them became specif ic t o their geographic s e t t i n g .
A corol la ry to t h i s process was the t raad through which
sa in t s , using mystic channels and idiom to convey the i r
message to the common people, f a i l ed unl ike the i r predecessors,
to check the reverse flow of popular supe r s t i t i ons , d i s t o r t
ions, and accret ions to the i r own ways, Sama was no exception
to t h i s t i d e and condit ions regula t ing i t were f louted. Ttxe
orthodox c r i t i c i sm of Sama vAiich had never r e a l l y subsided,
only became more poignant.
16 Sufi o r d e r s ;
3hese s t ab le social organizat ions came to be ca l led
t a r i aahs (ways) known in English as sufi orders , f r a t e r n i t i e s
27
or brotherhoods. Each foiinding aiaykh had h i s S j l s i l a h (chain)
h i s s p i r i t u a l l ineage which contributed s u b s t a n t i a l l y to h i s
s ta ture in the suf i conimunity. The S i i s i l a h , i s more prec i se ly
a genealogy, tracing the names <fif one's master, of one ' s
masters' master, and so on back through h i s t o r y . Often a
prominent -^haykh would have been i n i t i a t e d more than once,
by a nvjihber of a i l l u s t r i o u s s u f i s , thus adding addit ional
s ta ture to h i s s p i r i t u a l pedigree.
There are two main s i l s i l a h groups, v^ich la ter
subdivided into l i t e r a l l y hundreds of s u f i f r a t e r n i t i e s . The
f i r s t chain, general ly considered the more sober of the two,
traces i t s l inks back to Abu al Qasim al Junayd, the famed
s p i r i t u a l guide from whom al -Hal la j eventual ly broke away.
The second and more in tox icated , s i l s i l a h der ives from the
f i r s t great suf i e c s t a t i c , Abu Yazid al Bistami. l l iese
des ignat ions are very general and membership in e i ther group
i n d i c a t e s only a s p i r i t u a l genealogy not n e c e s s a r i l y an actual
a t t i t u d e toward mystical experience.
The members of the Bistami branch are of ten c a l l e d
^alamati, 'bl«une worthy'. The appel lat ion , however, can be
over s tressed , for i t does not mean that they scorned Islamic
law. On thecontrary, many were meticulous in their observance.
But eventual ly the name came to descr ibe , in broad terms,
those s u f l s who eschewed con^Jletely a l l of the publ ic trappings
of sufism and of p ie ty in general; they were characterised by
2* ^
the v i r tue of absolute s i n c e r i t y ( i k h l a s ) . Ihe Malamatiyah
r e j e c t e d suf i i n i t i a t i o n and the guidance of a Shaykh, nor
would they engage in publ ic devotional p r a c t i c e s common t o
s u f i s whatever r i t u a l acts they performed were carried out
i n pr iva te . Their individual ism made them appear to some as
siurpicious and marginal, Ihe Malaraatjtyah, never the le s s ,
should be c l e a r l y d is t inguished from the Qalandariyah, or
wandering dervishes , many of vihom did engage in p r a c t i c e s
that made mockery of the r e l i g i o u s law and of t r a d i t i o n a l
moral i ty .
The c « n t r a l i t y of S i l s i l a h s in Sufi f r a t e r n i t i e s i s
not completely unique. One d i scovers an analogous emphasis
in the hadith l i t e r a t u r e , where the l i t e r a r y s tructure of a
hadith has two par t s : the chain of t ransmit ters (isnad) and
the body of the t e x t (roatn). According to Muslim t r a d i t i o n ,
the authent ic i ty of the hadith i s guaranteed by the r e l i a
b i l i t y of the isnad. In the mane way that the power of sacred
word in the hadith has been preserved by the chain of
transmit ters , so too do the teachings and powers of a
part icular Shaykh remain a l i v e through h i s s i l s i l a h .
Whether oc not the isnads are h i s t o r i c a l l y r e l i a b l e
i s not a question tiiat need be discussed here . Suf f ice i t t o
say that the inqportance of isnads for Muslims i s t o ground
haditha s o l i d l y in the period of o r i g i n a l r e v e l a t i o n . Thus
o ;!n
there can be no quis t ion that the teachings of tiie hadlths
are innovations, rather hadiths are but more d e t a i l e d
i n s i g h t s Into God*s wi l l already eiq)ressed in general terms
in the Quran.
In s imilar fashion the S i l s l l a h s of suf i Shaykhs
provide them with r e l i g i o u s l eg i t imacy . Even though the suf i
orders may vary considerably in the ir teachings and a t t i tudes
toward mystical experience, they each can claim through their
s p i r i t u a l genealogies , to be s o l i d l y based upon the foiujdations
of sufism.
The r o l e of the ^^haykh and the r i t u a l e x e r c i s e s of
dhikr and Saroa are in tegra l elements in almost a l l of the
su f i orders. The d l s t i n a t i v e p e r s o n a l i t i e s of the F r a t e r n i t i e s ,
however, are as s i g n i f i c a n t as their s imilar s tructures and
p r a c t i c e s , what were the general patterns of l i f e of the
members of these communltes? I t i s d i f f e r e n t character of
the various brotherhoods. There are, however, some areas of
commonality. The f u l l members of the f r a t e r n i t i e s committed
themselves in obedience to the Shaykh, who i n i t i a t e d them
i n t o the order and bestowed upon th«n the patched frock
^khirqah), the s ign of their entry on the su f i path. They
were encouraged to subject themselves completely to the
maste f ' s w i l l , to be l i k e dead bodies in the hands of the
body washers. Some mendbers of orders remained c e l i b a t e vdille
Others married; some l ived l i v e s of extreme poverty while
o thers had a very comfortable exis tence . Common to most of
the sufi f r a t e r n i t i e s were r i t u a l p rac t i ces ca l led dhikr
(remembrance) and sama (audi t ion) .
161 Qadirivvah order:
A famous sufi order founded by Abd al Uadlr ^Han i in
Baghdad. The veneration of h i s memory i s a hallmark of t h i s
order . The Qadiriyyah was the f i r s t sufi order as such to
emerge in sufism; u n t i l then the path had bea:i r e l a t i v e l y
undifferent ia ted, although groupings had formed around
pa r t i cu la r s p i r i t u a l masters ca l led tawaif groups, band or
f ac t ions . With J i l a n i the t r a d i t i o n begins in sufism of
looking Pack t o a pa r t i cu la r teacher and considering him
as watershed in method and doctr ine; u n t i l then suf i s had
looked d i rec t ly to the prophet as the foxinder, and considered
the i r own s p i r i t u a l masters as h i s r ep resen ta t ives ; they
s t i l l do so, in p r inc ip le , but with an awareness tha t has
in the individual case t o be actual isdd.
The Qadiriyyah i s wide spread from India to Morocco.
In the Arab West the order i s ca l led the J j i ^ a h and i t s
p rac t i ces are marked by an in t rus ion of folk sufism,
r e su l t i ng in the degeneration of the hadrah (sacred dance),
in to t rance dancing, and an emphasis on unusual s t a t e s of
mind and prodigious fea ts to the detriment of a coherent
31
doctr ine of s p i r i t u a l development. Like the Hamidsha and
Isawivvah, the ir e c s t a t i c dancing to an accompaniment of
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c f l u t e and drum music i s often performed in
publ ic .
162 Suhrawardiyah order;
The genealogy of the Suhrawardiyya order begins with
Abu al-Najib al-3uhrawardhi (d. 1168) who was a d i s c i p l e of
Ahmad al Ghazzali . Abu Najib i s the author of an important
r u l e book for novices , Kj.tab adabal natiridin (book of the
manners of the d i s c i p l e s ) . The t e x t evinces Abu Naj ib ' s long
experience as a d i rec tor ; h i s r u l e s are s t r i c t and corrqprehensive
ye t attuned to the human f r a i l t i e s of the young and untutored.
The order that bears the name Suhrawardi was founded
by Abu-al Naj ib's nephew, Shihab-a-Din Abu Hafs-Umar al
Suhrawardi (d. 1234). Shihab-a-Din the author of the extr«nely
i n f l u e n t i a l work, Awarif al ma'arif (masters of Mystical
I n s i g h t s ) , i s remembered in suf i c i r c l e s as a great teacher.
Teaching in fac t , became a c h a r a c t e r i s t i c note of the
f r a t e r n i t y . The Suhrawardiyah made s i g n i f i c a n t in roads
in to the Indian subcontinent, v^ere i t s ranks included such
in^ortant f igures as Baha-al Din Zakariya of Multan.
163 Naqshabandivva order;
A prominait su f i order founded by Mxihaiwned ibn
Muhammad Baha al din Waqshbandi (1317-1389) of Bukhara.
Si lence as a method of r e c o l l e c t e d n e s s and concentration i s
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the order, which i s par t i cu lar ly widespread
in the Caucasus and central Asia. One of the s p e c i a l
Naqshbandi prayers i s c a l l e d Kh atm- al -Kh aw a 1 aq an (the sea l
of the masters) and i s r e c i t e d after some of the canonic
prayers . The p r i n c i p l e s p i r i t u a l method of the Naqshbandis
i s dhikr ( invocation) with the heart . The Divine name i s
involved not with the tongue, but with the consciousness
centred on the s p i r i t u a l heart , the s u b t l e symbolical center
of the person, which may or may not co inc ide with the awareness
of the physical heart . I t i s t h i s s p i r i t u a l centre which c a l l s
upon the name in an e x i s t e n t i a l rather than mental invocat ion .
The method bears some resemblance to tiie Hesychast prayer
of the heart, but i s not i d e n t i c a l with i t .
164 Veneration of Sa ints ;
The i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z a t i o n of tarjqahs and the emphasis
on s i l s i l a h s enhanced subs tant ia l ly th«-' r e l i g i o u s and
p o l i t i c a l p o s i t i o n of the master. Whereas in the past the
Shaykh functioned primarily as an exp«rt and confidant, he
new became a repos i tory of s p i r i t u a l power as we l l . A Shaykh's
l ineage did not provide simply a l i s t of teachers; i t implied
that the s p i r i t u a l power of each of these great s u f i s had
been transmitted t o t h i s l a s t members of the l i n e .
31
The Shaykhs of the g rea t suf i orders , therefore took
on superhuman q u a l i t i e s . They became knovm as awliva, int imates
or f r iends of God. Their s p i r i t u a l perfect ion ra ised them
for above the level of their d i s c ip l e s and of the masses of
Muslim f a i t h f u l . The spread of Ibn a l -Arab i ' s teaching,
pa r t i cu l a r l y the notion of the perfect Human Being, which
was elaborated upon by Ibn a l -Arabi ' s i n t e l l e c t u a l d i sc ip l e s ,
especia l ly by Abd al Karim ibn Ibrahim al J i l i (d 14 28),
provided an i n t e l l e c t u a l framework within viiiCh to explain
t h i s cosmic ro le of the sa in t l i ke ^haykh. Many of the
Shaykhs of important order were acknowledged by the i r follov»ers
as the Qutb, the pole or axis around which the cosmos revolves,
the perfect Human Being, the point a t which the divine
Creat ive Imagination most ful ly manifests i t s e l f in the world
of i l l u s i o n . The fac t a number of individuals claimed t h i s
s t a tu s at one and the same time was cause for a ce r t a in
amount of f r i c t i on and r i v a l r y among the powerful f r a t e r n i t i e s .
The concept of qutb i s linked by Ibn al Arabi and
h i s predecessors with a whole hierarchy of cosmic beings.
Al-Hujuwiri describes them as the o f f ice rs ot the divide
court made up of 300 akhvar (excellent ones), 40 abdal (sub
s t i t u t e s ) , 7 ^ r a r (piously devoted ones) 4 awtad ( p i l l a r s ) ,
3 nuqaba (leader) and one qutb (known also as ghawth (succor) .
Ibn Arabi 's hierarciiy i s some what d i f fe ren t in s t ruc tu re .
The qutb i s Joined by two a'imroah (guides) foxir awtad.
seven abdal, 12 nuqaba, and eight nuiaba (mobles^ . Ihe
cosmic hierarchy, regardless of i t s pa r t i cu la r descr ip t ion ,
i s the s p i r i t u a l power through which the order and continued
existence of the cosmos are ensured.
The term wali i s often t rans la ted as sa in t ; th i s i s
misleading because there i s no r e l i g ious hierarchy in Islam
empowered to canonize individual as sa in t s , as one has, for
example, in Roman Catholicism, Rather, the s t a tu s of Wali
i s at tained through public acclamation. There are, nevertheless ,
analogies between Chris t ian s a i n t s and Muslim awliya,
i insofar as both possess sp ic i tua l power tha t i s cape^le of
Ipeing transmit ted to d i sc ip l e s or devotees. In Islam t h i s
Al Azhar Sufiam In modern Egypt i The Sufi thought 47
Al Blruni and Islamic mysticiam 93
Al Ch«ny wi th J inn,Suffa , and Suff i , as lean words £rcia the Chinese 15
Al Ghaxzali 24,25
Al Ghazaali a s Sufi 22
Al Ghazzali in d e f e i s e o f S u f i s t i c in terpre ta t ion of the Q&ran 34
Al Ghazzali on Same 35
Al Ghazzali on the p r a c t i c e of the presaace of God 31
Al Ghazzali*s theught concerning the nature of
man and iftiion with Sled 32
Al HallaJ; Saint and martyr 39
A l i i l l a h i Sect in P e r s i a 271
Al insan a l KaroijL/ The p e r f e c t man according to i b i v a l Arabi 66 Al Jihad a l Akbar; Notes on a thane in Is lamic s p i r i t u a l i t y 135
Al Kumail^ A companion of the Seeret 167
Al Shadhiliy A north African Suf i , according t o Ibn a l Sabbeagh 40
2 n n
Al Sharani the myotic 41
Amir Husaini 42
Amir Khusrau , and contemporary mysticism 187
Approach to Muslim mysticisn 112
Aspects of the veneration of Saints in Islam with special reference to Pa&istan 244
Authenticity of the woi^s attributed to ai Ghazzali 37
Avicenna and mystician 170
Baba Farid 6anJ-i-Shakar and h i s mystical Philosophy 49
Badr Maqams or the Shrines of Bedr aldln
Auliya 43
Baul mystic order 273
Beginning of a l Chemy# i t s f i r s t preparation and the ear l i e s t designation of the a l Chonist in Arabic as sufi 16 Being and non being 196
Bel ie fs and practices of the Ahii Haqq of Iraq 268
Bistamina 117
Bund Sama 286
Chin ere Origin of Pir-JHaauahai and other texms in sufian 17
Cleaning of the heart I The Sufi approach ccocieption of Sad as understood by the early mystics of India 281
20'
Concept of love In Rani and Iqbal/6oncept of Z^3 love An Suflam 150
Conciliatory tone of ibn a l Arabi 57
Contemplation and nature in the perspective of Suf«i«i 122
Contribution to the biography of Abd al Qadir J i lani 04
Controversies over ibn a l Arab's Pugns the fa i th of the Pharaoh 63
Cort>in's interpretation of Imamo^ogy
and Sufeiani 264
Coamological re la t iv i ty of ibn Arab 67
Cretive imagenation in the Sufiam of Ibn a l Arab 61
Cr i t i ca l appraisal of the Sufi hagiographical corpus of medieval India 275
Cr i t i ca l approach to Sufiaa 45
Cr i t i ca l Sttidy of the Dates of Birth and death of Hadrath Mnin Uddin Chishti of AJmer 164
Death and the world of Imagination: a l Arabi's Eschatology 60
Development and nature of Sufi an in India and Pakistan 279
Dimensions of c l a s s i c a l sufi thought 289
2 ' ^
Early Muslin A s c e t i c s 89
Early Muslim pos t a s c e t i c dcKrelopmeats 99
Esoter ic and myst i ca l aspect s of r e l i g i o u s knowledge in sufism 194
Esoter ic aspect o f islam 263
Essettti^Js of Sttfian 260« 261
Ethica l i d e a l of the early Suf is 154
Evi l and f r e e w i l l in Runi and Iq0t>al 224
Exegesis of Subrawardi's the Purple of i n t e l l e c t (Aql-i-Surich) 297
Fawaid a l Fuad 186
Female and feminine in Islamdc mysticism 118
F ina l word o f t h e Ahl-i-Haqq 269
Fore runner of a l Ghazzali 26
Garb of the Sufi and i t s S ign i f i cance 50
Ghazzali on t h e inner secre t and out ward
esqpressioB o f r e l i g i o n , in h i s ' c h i l d * 28
Cftiazzali on the r e a l i t y of soul 33
Gl ln^ses of Sufism 206
Ghosis < A Phi losophica l ana lys i s from • edantic and suf i c stad po ints 155 Goal of Muhamnadan mysticism 100
201
Great persian su£i# Sheikh Blstami and his myst ica l philosophy 181
Haarath Nizainuddin Auliya 189
Hanbali School and Sufism 52
Hayat a l Auliyat Bibliography of early Sufis 293
Henry corton and suhrawardi's angelology 146
Historical enqruiry concerning the origin and
derelopment of Sufian 03
Historical study of Iqbal's view on Sufism 74
History of Sufisn in India« from Sixteenth to modem century 282 Ibn Arab and h i s philosophy 64
Ibn Arab of 3paia s A great Spiritual master
of Islam* his Chariams 56
Ibn Taymiyyah and Sufian 82
Ibn Taymiyyah*s Criticism of Sufisn 83
Ibn Taymiyyah's Shaih on the Putuh a l Ghayab
of Abd al Qadir a l Tilani 81
Ideal man in Rumi and I<jt>al 225
Id«a of man and knowledge in the conception
of Persian mystics 182
Idea of Subtle ^dediment in Henry codan 105
I lltxnination t A Sufi doctrine 46
Imam Ghazali and h i s Al Munqidh min a l Dalai
(De l lve t^se from error) 21
Imam Ghazali *s moral philosophy 30
Imam Ghazali'8 phi losophica l achleRronents 29
Impact o f Islam on the Gaudian form of vjti-^ Shnavism 274
Impact of Sufi Sa ints on Indian Socitety and cu l ture -161
Indo-Persian Sources for the S t u ^ of Sufism 139
Inf luence of Hermetic l i t e r a t u r e on Moselen thought 107 Inf luence of Sufiam on t r a d i t i o n a l Persian
Music 165
Introduction to the h i s t o r y df Sufisn 106
Iqbal and Islamic tasawvuf (with s p e c i a l
re ference t o Ihn a l Arab's Sufism) 77
Iqbal and mysticism 75
Iqbal on the doctr ine of 'Absolute % i t y ' 76
Iqbal*s concepts of l o v e and reason 78
Iranand Islam i Their rec iprocal inf luence 127
Iranian ittiiuoBCHs on medieral Indian myst ics 171
l£ l§S. an< Tasawwaf 259
Islam and Spir i tual i sm 178
Is lamic mysticism t Iran and India 109
I s Ion in India before Shah Wall Al lah 246
2li
I s Sufiam a l i e n to the s p i r i t of Islam 79
Jafar a l Sadiq » S p i r i t u a l fore feear of the Suf is 128
Jahanglr and Hadrath Sheikh Ahmad S i r b lndl 11
J a l a l a l din Ruml 210,213,214
J a l a l a l din Rtml » A great mystic poet 233
J a l a l a l din Runl and Shamsl Tabrlzl 212
J a l a l a l din Rml i Sv^rente Persian Poet and sage 216
Jarol's concept of God In the Lawa'lh 131
Kablr as depicted In the Persian Suf l s t l c and h i s t o r i c a l works 144
Kharghusl's manual of Suflsm 157
L i f e and mission o f Sheikh Ahmad S i r hlndl 12
Li fe Sketch of the Abdul Qadlr Gllani 0 5
Litany on Sheikh ibn a l Arab's Doctrine
of Wahdat a l Wfliud 58
Lo^e In I t s essence « The Sufi approach 151
Love o f God t A Sufi approach 152
Mahfll-e-Sama i Sufi P r e c t l c In Indian context 287
Makhdun-1- Jahan and h i s phllosophyof Love 174
Man o f l i g h t In Iranian Suflsm 204
213
Man? 8 knowledge of God in the thoughts of
Jafar a l Sadlq 129
Maulana J a l a l a l din and Shamsl Ttabrizl 215
Maulana J a l a l a l din Rianl 211,277
Maulana Ronl 219
Maulana Rmi on the per fec t man 230 Miraele o f the pear l s 232
Mirror Symbol in the teachings and Writings
of some Sufi masters 148
Muhammedan mysticism in Sumatra 87
Midcbul Maani of Hasan in S i j z i Dehlavi 133
Music and dance in the works of Maulana J a l a l
a l din Rwii 238
Muslim mind 207
Myst ica l philosophy of the Indian Muslim Saint Shaikh Nazam a l din Auliya 191 Myst ica l Side of the Muqaddlmah t ibn Khaldun's v i e u e of Sufism 69 Mystic ideas of Iran and t h e i r impact on Sufi
theught and t r a d i t i o n s in India 113
Mysticism and sa in t worship 110
Mysticism in Islam 96« 102,104
Mysticism in Kaslmir t In the 14th and 15th c e n t u r i e s 173 Mysticiflm in Persian Poetry 176
21.'^
My Stic lam of Hamzah Fansurl 51
Mystic lam of the desert 90
Mystic l e t t ers of the Quran 183
Mystics and ccmnlssars t Suflsn In the Soviet Union 116
Mystics and mystical movements of the
Sayyad-X«di period 140
Mystic s ide of Islam 92
Mystic Significance of the sp l i t t ing the moon* As mentiened in the Quran 205
Neqshabandi influence on mughal rulers and
p o l i t i c s 285
Nature and meaning of Tawakkul in Sufism 193
Need ri^oxms in Sufi ideology with special
reference to India and Pakistan 251
Notes on some Sufi l i ve s 86
Notes on the Mahasinal majalis e f Ibn Al Arlf 68 Origin and darelopment of Chishti Order in
the Deccan, 1300-1538 AD 277
Origin and early development of Sufism 54
Origin and evolution of Sufism 95
Origins of Suflam 149
21
Past and present of Maulana Ruml's mausole^tn 229
Peep into Suflant < Sufi Poets 153
Peep Into Suflan < The various suggested derivations of the word Sufi 262
Perfect man « The 3afi approach/Persian Sufigm 145 ' 200
Philosophers stone and i t s original conception 18
Philosophical exposition of Suhrawardhi's
onthb3iogy and metaphysic 296
Philosophy of Ibn Arab 65
Place of Runi in Muslin thoxight 240
Poetic mysticism of Ja la l a l din Rumi t An enquiry 236 Po l i t ea l and rel igious ideas of Shah Kali
Allah of Delhi 255
Preparatary period of Ruaii's l i f e 218
Pzoblaa of the one and the many t
The Sufi approach 114
Prophetic philosophy of Ibn Arab 59
P^chology of the P<»rsian mystic philosophers 177
Punch Pir 243 Qutb, Pole, a designation of the Sufi and its Chinese origin 19
zu^
Rabyah a l Adawiyah of Basra
Rabia the Mystic
Rare manuscript of Jam!
Rationale of j i had as expounded Shah Wall Al lah o f Delhi
Real taadency o f mystic«sm
119
120
130
256
179
Relation between Suflsm and philosophy of the Persian c u l t u r e 142
Re l ig ious thought of Maulana iFalal a l din Romi 239
Remarks on Sufism and i t s r e l a t i o n t o pa theism and Islam 124
Research t h e s i s on the mystic philosophy o f Kablr 195
Resolution in Runi's l i f e 234
Role o f Sufism in the spread of Islam t o Malaya and Indonesia
Role of the Sufi S i l s i l a h T^riaahs in I s lamic re l i g ion and s o c i e t y
Run! and Ic^al
Rumi as a poet
Rinii as a thinker
85
266
222
235
124
Rumi I His l i f e and genius
Rumi*s c e n t r i 3:>«ttion to e th ic s
220
231
2ir.
S a d l ' s concept of i d e a l Sufism 242
Sa ints o f Bengal t SheiXh J a l a l a l din Tabriz i and Shah J a l a l 272
SayyidMuhammed a l Hussayni-i-Gisudiraz
on Sufigm 158
Scholarticiam and mysticism in Islam 89
Secret o f Haji (pilgrimage to kaabe) t
The Sufi approach 27
S e c t of Ahll-i-Haqq (All i l l a h i s ) 270
Shah Badi a l din Madar and h i s Tariqah in Bengal 283 Shah Gharib Allah o f Chittagong 245 Shah Mujibullah o f Al lahalead and h i s
mys t i ca l thought 163
Shah Wall Al lah as a mystic 250
Shah Wall Allah t A s p i r i t u a l huminary of 18th century Indian Islam 247 Shah Wall Al lah t Attenpts t o r « r i s e
wahdat a l Wulud 248
Shah Wall A l l a h ' s concflption o f IJt ihad 258
Shah Wall A l lah ' s l a s t testament 257 Shah Wall A l lah ' s philosophy of Soc ie ty t An out l i n e 252 Shah Wall A l l a h ' s Philosophy of the Is lamic
Shariat 249
Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani 06
Shaikh Muhlbullah of Allehabads Life and times 162
217
Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya 188,190
Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi 10
Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi on Vlahdat al Shipjud 13
Sheikh and his Sufism 07
Sheikh Nasiraddin Mahmud Chiraghi Delhi:
As a great historical personality l85
Shihab al din Suhrawardi Maqtul 295
Shiah mysticism 267
Shiah Saints 265
Shuhud Vs Wu^ud : A study of Gisudiraz 159
Some designations of the Sufi as loan words to be reckoned in a proper history of Sufism 53
SOTie differences between Arab and Persian Schools of Sufism 121
Some factors in the decline of the Sufi orders in modern Egypt ^8
Some notes on the impact of the story
of the Miraj on Sufi literature 62
Some notes on the Nagshabandi order 28M-
Some problems of Sufi studies 209
Spanish Muslim saint: Abu-i-Abbas al Mursi 08
Spiritualism and Islam 166
Spread and influence of Sufism in India: Historical development 108
21
spread of the illuminationist School 290 of Suhrawardi
Story of the prophetic ascent (Miraj) in Sufi thought and literature 175
Structure of religious thought in Islam.-Sufism 11^
Study of Rumi and Iqbal: Rumi' s influence on Iqbal 226
Study of Sufism; Its back-ground and its syneratic significance in Medieval India 73
Sufism or mystic side of Islam 103
Sufi approach to the problem of alienation 168
Sufi concept of knowledge and its relation to life 201
Sufi convent and its social significance in the
medieval period of Islam 288
Sufi doctrine of Rumi: An introduction 228
Sufi doctrine of Stuk traced to Chinese 20 Sufi doctrine of the'perfect man» and a view of the hierarchical structure of Islamic culture 192
Sufi essays 123
Sufi idea of self perfection 180
Sufi master as exemplified in Persian Sufi literature lif3
Sufi movement 280
Sufi mysticism in Islam 88
210
Sufi orders in the Deccan 278
Sufi path of love: An anthology of Sufism 137
Sufi Psychological treatise ^h7
Sufi Qaum movement 111
Sufi saints of 20tb century (Sheikh Ahmad
Al Alavi) 09
Sufi Shah Inyat Shahid of sind 70
Sufi.sm 297
Sufism and Islam 126,197
Sufism and Shariah: A study of Shaykh Ahmad
S i r hindi»s ef for t to reform sufism ^k
Sufiism and Sikhism lS^
Sufism and the prohlem of the knowledge of God
Sufism as a bridge between eastern and western
r e l i g ious thought 101
Sufism from i t s or ig in t o a t Ghazzali 80
Sufism in India 5^
Sufism in Kashmir
Sufism in soma nUi-land: A study i n t r i b a l Islam 125
Sufism in the West 298
Suf;^g of Bijapur (13OO-170O) Socia l ro l e s of Sufis i n medival India 72 Sufi s tudies* East and West 221
2?n
Sufi thought and Christian teaching 198
Sufi tract 132
Sohrawardi Silsilah and its influence on
medieval Indian politics 292
Survey in out line of the mystic
literature of the Sultanate period 1 1
Syed Muhammad al Husains Gesudaraz 16O
Symbolical language of Maulana Jalal uddin Rumi 237
Symbolism of light in Mishkat al Amwar 23
Tasawwuf and modem research 208
Tasawwuf : The meeting point of Tashayyu and Tasannun 203
Teachers of Shilab al Din-Umar al
Suhrawardi 29^
Thems of Sufism in Aliyu tra Mangi's poetry 138
Theology and mysticism in the writings of Ziya
Gokalp 169
Theory of the Indian origin of Sufism 71
Two great contemporaries of 13th century AD:
Sultan al-4Jlam« al Izzibn al Salam and ibn Arab M+
Two muslim Saints and mystics 38
Two types of mystical thought in Muslim Iran: An essay on Subrawardi Shaykh al Ishraq and Aynul Quzat-i-Hamadani 291
Unique manuscript of Fath a l Rehman by Shah \ l a l i Allah 253125^
Unity of mytstical experience in Islam and Christendom 9^
Unusual Sufi u t t e rances : An i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of t h e i r s ignif icance 01
Uways a l Qurani and theUwaysi Sufis 91
Virtue of knowledge : The Sufi approach 202
V i s i t to a Chish t i Qawwali 276
V i s i t to the grave of a l Ghazzali 36
Vlisdom of the Sufi^ ^3h
Zad a l Muttaqeen-wa-Saluki-i-Tariq a l Yaqin: A contemporary work on the l i v e s of the l6th century Su f i s / theologians 136
9 0'?
SUBJECT INDEX
SUBJECT ENTRY NUMBER
SUFISM 1-3
AEDUL QADIR J ILANI
BIOGRAPHY 4
LIFE 5 - 6
PHILOSOFriY 7
ABUL ABBAS AL ANDALUSI 8
AHMAD ALAWI
ALGERIA 9
AHMAD SIR HINDI 1 0 - 1
LIFE 12
PHILOSOPHY 13
•mOUOiTS 14
ALCHEMY
QilNA 1 5 - 9
CONFUCIUS 20
ALOiAZZALI 2 1 - 6
HAJJ 27
PHILOSOPHY 2 8 - 3 2
QURAN 3 3 - 4
SAMA 35
TH0U(3iTS 36
WORKS 37
9 9']
SUFISM
AL HALLAJ 38-9
AL SHADHILI 40
AL aiARANI 41
AMIR HUSAINI 4 2
BADRALDIN AULIYA
BENGAL 4 3
CONTEMPORARIES
IBN AL ARABI 44
CRITICISM 45
DOCTRINES 46
EGYPT 47-8
FARID GAKJ-I- SHAKAR
PHILOSOPHY 49
GARB 50
HAMZAH FANSURI 51
HANBALIS 52
HISTORY 53-4
INDIA 55
IBNALARABI 56
CHRISTIANITY, Influenced by 57
PHILOSOPHY 58-67
IBNAL ARIF 68
IBN KHALDUN
MUQADDIMAH 69
SUFISM 90
INAYAIH SHAHID
SIND 70
INDIA 71
MEDIEVAL 72-3
IQBAL 74-5
DOCTRINES 76
PHILOSOPHY 77-8
ISLAM 79
HISTORY 80
IBN TAYAMIYYAH 81
CRITICISM 82-3
KASHMIR 84
MALAYA 85
ISLAM
MYSTICISM 86-102
EUROPEAN 103
EVOLUTION 104
HENRY CORBIN 105
HISTORY 106
IBN AL ARABI 107
INDIA 108-10
MOVEMENT 111
LIBEFtALISM 112
SUFISM 22
ISLAM
MYSTICISM
PERSIA 113
PHILOSOPHY 114
THOUaiTS 115
U.S.S.R. 116
VEDANTA 117
WOMAN 118
RABIAH AL ADAWIYAH 119-20
PERSIA 121
PHILOSOPHY 122-4
SOMALLILAND 125
VEDANTA 126
ZOROASTERIANISM
PERSIA 127
JAFAR AL SADIQ 128
PHILOSOEHY 129
JAMI 130
POET 131
LITERATURE 1 3 2 - 8
INDIA 139
MEDIEVAL 140-1
PERSIA 14 2-5
> SUFISM
LITERATURE
PHILOSOPHY 146
PSYCHOLOGY 147
SYMBOLS 148
LOVE 149-52
POETRY 15 3
SAMA 154
MAARIFAT 155-6
MANUAL 157
MOHAMMAD AL HUSAINI
GISJDIRAZ 1 5 8 - 6 0
MUHIBULLAH
ALL/iHABAD 1 6 1 - 3
MUINUDDIN CHISHTI
LIFE
AJMER 164
MUSIC
PERSIA 165
MYSTICISM 166-7
ALIENATION 168
THEOLOGY^ and 169
AVICENNA
PHILOSOPHY 170
SUFISM
MYSTICISM
INDIA
MEDIEVAL 171-2
KASHMIR 173
MAKHDUMI JAHAN
PHILOSOPHY 174
MIRAJ 175
PERSIAN POETRY 176-7
PHILOSOPHY 178-80
BISTAMI 181
PERSIA 182
QURAN 183
SIKHISM 184
NASIRUDDIN MAHMUD GHIRAGHI
PHILOSOHiY 185
NIZAMUDDIN AWLIYA 1 8 6 - 7
LIFE 1 8 8 - 9 0
PHILOSOPHY 191
PHILOSOPHY 1 9 2 - 2 0 3
PERSIA 204
QURAN 2 0 5 - 7
RESEARCH 2 0 8 - 9
RUMI 2 1 0 - 2 0
IDRIS SHAH,and 221
23
2?^^ SUFISM
RUMI
IGBAL^compared w i t h 222
PHILOSOPHY 22 3 -5
POETRY 226
SANKAACHARYA, eL_dd 227
DOCTRINES 228
MAUSOLEUM 229
PHILOSOPHY 2 3 0 - 1
POETRY 2 3 2 - 6
SYMBOLS 2 37
SAMA 238
THOUGHTS 2 3 9 - 4 1
SA 'DI 242
SAINT WORSHIP 24 3
PAKISTAN 244
SHAH GHARIB ALLAH
CHITTAGONG 245
SHAH WALI ALLAH 246
LIFE 247
PHILOSOPHY 2 4 8 - 5 2
QURAN 2 5 3 - 4
THOUGHTS 2 5 5 - 8
SHARIATH 2 5 9 - 6 2
. I3N AL ARAEI 26 3
22^
SUFISM
SHIASM 264
PERSIA 265
SUFI ORDERS 266-7
ALI ILAHI SECT 268-9
IRAQ 270
PERSIA 271
BENGAL 272-3
CHISHTIS 274-7
DECCAN 278
INDIA 279-82
MADARIS 283
NAQSHABANDIS 284-5
SAMA 286-7
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 288
THOUOiTS 289
SUHRAWARDIS 290-2
SUFIS
BIBLIOGRAHiY 29 3
SUHRAWARDI 2 9 4 - 5
PHILOSOPHY 2 9 6 - 7
WEST 298
GLOSSARY
23
Alam-Jabrut =
Alam-Malakut =
Alam-Nasut =
Al - Insan a l Kamil =
Al-Kumail '
Al-Ruju a l - i d t i r a r i s
Al-Ruju a l - i k t i y a r i =
Anal Haqq =
Aql
Aql- i -Surkh =
Ashabi Suffa •
Ashiqa =
Award =
World of Power
World of Sovere iqnty
World of Humanity
The p e r f e c t man
Companion of the s e c r e t
Ccxnpulsory r e t u r n
Voluntary r e t u r n
I am the t r u t h
Reason
Purple i n t e l l e c t
People of the s t e p
Lover
rememberance formulae
Baraka
a i a k t i
Bihushi
Bismil lah
Brahman
Bund sama
Hol iness
Devotion
Senselessness
In the name of Allah
Knowledge, Gnosis
Dance
Dargah
Dhat
Dhauq
Dhikr
Duniya
Shrine or tomb
the essence or body
taste/ tasting
Recollection
World
2 3 f
Fana
Pan a lEi Allah
Fiqh
Passing away, ann ih i l l a t ion ex t in -c t ion